Marsha Anne Gomez

Marsha Anne Gomez (December 24, 19511998) was a sculptor, art teacher, and activist. She is best known for her series, Madre del mundo (Mother of the World).

Early life and education Gomez was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her father, Walter Anthony Gomez Jr., was from the Canary Islands. Her mother, Anna Lula Gomez, was of Cajun and Choctaw descent. The center, located on Lake Travis outside of Austin, was founded in 1988 by feminist and philanthropist Genevieve Vaughan as a gathering space for women, especially queer women and women of color. Vaughan donated Alma de Mujer to the Indigenous Women's Network in 1996 as part of an effort to restore land to indigenous communities. She was influenced by New Mexican and Oaxacan pottery styles. Her work reflects political and eco-feminist themes, emphasizing indigenous sovereignty, reverence for the Earth, and the role of women in caretaking of natural resources.

The Foundation for a Compassionate Society and Grandmothers for Peace commissioned the work in 1998 for a Mother's Day protest on Western Shoshone land near a nuclear test site in Nye County, Nevada. Madre del Mundo was intended to represent the maternal and nurturing forces in opposition to the violence of bombing. On a photo of the work, Gomez wrote "save the land, honor treaty rights, stop nuclear testing on our sacred earth."

Death Gomez was killed by her son, Mekaya, in 1998.